30A Wedding Coordination: What’s the Right Level For You?
w/ Avis Glenister from Peach & Pearl Events
The 30A area has so many GREAT wedding professionals that work there. They provide the absolute best experience for happy couples and their guests that have come to celebrate the start of their lives together. Avis Glenister is one of those wedding pros. She excels at providing spectacular 30A wedding coordination. But, to describe her as just a wedding coordinator on 30A would be a bit of an understatement.
She owns Peach & Pearl Events and Carillon Weddings® in Carillon Beach. She also is the founder of 30A Wedding Co, a collective of wedding companies that empower and learn from each other, as well as showcase their talents to future clients across social media platforms. But when you get to know her, you realize she’s just a very down-to-earth, charming person: the kind of personality you would expect from someone who grew up in Georgia and graduated from UGA.
It’s always a pleasure when I get to chat with her. I did just that for my most recent podcast. During the episode, I wanted to find out from her perspective what the different levels of coordination there are as well as advice for couples on how to choose the right level of service perfectly suited for them.
Full-Service Event Design
Avis: “There is a wonderful group of incredible planners who provide their services in the 30A area. Many of us started around the same time, so it’s been great to be able to grow with others in this industry. There are only a couple of planners who also offer design work and consider themselves event designers.
How do I define an event planner and designer? An event designer is someone who starts from the very beginning and walks the couple through all the different visual aspects of a wedding. They are hyper-focused on the style, look, and feel of the event with a discerning eye for design and style. We have a top-notch collection of vendors for our clients to turn to and the ability to know everything about our client’s wedding day from the color palette to intimate family dynamics. This level of service is really for the clients who are super busy at home with high-functioning jobs and while they still value a beautifully designed event, they’re unable to put a lot of time into their planning.
Many of my clients have been doctors, nurses, recent graduates, or those who are shuffling through rotations, a new move, combining homes, etc. so they are focused on other areas in their personal life. A client interested in event design is coming into planning their wedding realizing, “I really don’t have the time I need to be able to plan the wedding I want.” They trust the event designer to be able to hand over and make all the big decisions. This service is for the clients who value and are used to hiring professional experts to handle things they cannot do themselves in their daily lives.
The Wedding-Planning Process
At Peach & Pearl Events, we have a process created that allows us as a team to help refine, or sometimes discover, exactly what our clients’ priorities are for their wedding. Once we’ve defined that, I take that into account to make intentional design decisions to curate the wedding of their dreams.
As we make our way through the wedding-planning process, I meet vendors on their behalf. Afterward, I give the couple more of a presentation style of what I’ve collaborated on with my creative partners. For many clients, they find it overwhelming to start from scratch by making every decision from flatware style to napkin folds. When my clients allow me to sift and sort the choices based on overall aesthetic design, it’s much easier to change something that’s being presented to them rather than coming up with decisions individually on their own.
Another type of client this would be suited for is someone who may get overwhelmed easily. Having to sit and make a million decisions can feel terrifying sometimes. We handle all the major decisions and present them for their overall approval. We still want the clients to feel very in control of the choices they make. To use the analogy of building a house, we are like the contractor who you explain your dream home to. We take that description, go in, and handle hiring all of the appropriate professionals who can make it happen. You’re not having to build the entire structure at that point, so you’re able to enjoy fine-tuning the details.
(Logistical) Planning
The next level of service you might consider for 30A wedding coordination is logistical planning. The majority of planners who offer full-service coordination in the 30A area fall into this category. We help choose the vendors for the bride as well as coordinate the vendor meetings. While at the meetings, we take copious notes and weigh in with our expertise. That expertise comes in handy when they have specific questions to ask. This is more of a concierge-style approach. We’re always here to help answer any and all questions that come up throughout the planning process. We handle everything from transportation logistics to hotel room blocks to knowing who your favorite crazy aunt is!
Event Management
The least amount of contracted service would be Event Management. Couples often think of it as “day-of” service. You may feel it is more appropriate if it’s a venue requirement. Another reason you may consider event management is sometimes family is used to helping pitch in with events. Or maybe you just need someone to help get you down the aisle. While most planners don’t offer any sort of day-of service, they might consider Event Management as a more accurate alternative. We offer this service on a limited basis. While our main priority is our full-service client, we will occasionally offer this to clients who are booking relatively last minute or on a non-weekend date.
The industry as a whole is trying to get rid of the concept of “day-of” as it seems to be an impossible service done by professionals. Family or coordinators just starting out in the industry tend to start at this level of service. We begin Event Management at 60 days out from the event. The 60-day period is crucial. At that point, you’ve usually finalized with vendor proposals, but might be waiting for your total guest count. We don’t handle budgeting at this level of service. However, we dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s. It’s our time to really wrap up all loose ends. We make suggestions for things that may have been overlooked. We also insert some great ideas to help up-level their event to allow us to fully put our stamp on a flawlessly executed event.
The Peach & Pearl Philosophy
In each level of service, we specialize in high-touch events. It doesn’t matter if Event Management is being provided by myself or someone else on our team. We still strive to put our signature stamp on it.
That’s a source of pride for us. It’s at the core of what gets us excited about being involved with a wedding. We get to love on the couple and their guests and make everyone feel comfortable and welcome. If we succeed in that, the guests are calm, and the parents are relaxed. This reduces the stress level for everyone, most importantly, the couple. Once we’ve arrived at the wedding weekend, we will execute it leaving our clients to focus on the memories of the day. “
Make Your Wedding a Highlight
My personal stance on whether or not you need a wedding coordinator was made pretty clear in Yes. You NEED a Wedding Coordinator. I can attest to that both from a groom’s and a wedding professional’s perspective. I am an excellent wedding DJ/MC. But, you can tell the difference between how a wedding runs when a wedding coordinator is present versus when one is not. You owe it to yourself and your guests to consider finding the right 30A wedding coordination. Interested in finding out more about Avis and Peach & Pearl Events? Check out their website and their socials (Facebook, Instagram). You can also request more information here.
Here’s to your wedding’s success. Here’s to making it a highlight! 🙂
A well organized and well spoken wedding coordinator makes all the difference in the world to the special event going smoothly.